Good evening all! Im here to update with the next day of our trip
a day we did not go to any theme parks.
We were definitely ready to have a day without so much running around. We had already gone to Busch Gardens and Legoland while staying in Tampa, and we had gone to Sea World. True, the day we arrived at WDW we didnt go to a park but we still did a lot of walking around and shopping in DTD, plus hitting the rain, so this was a great time for a break from the parks and a day NOT to wake up to an alarm!
The kids got up at around 8:30 (late for us on a WDW vacation!), and we all had breakfast in the villa. We just had some cereal and some fruit. It was nice to eat light. We were planning to go to the pool that day and just relax. Eric and I thought it would be nice to go for a ride on one of the surrey bikes they rent out on the Boardwalk. Eric suggested that we do that first, before the height of the heat kicks in during the afternoon, and before the threat of the usual summer Florida thunderstorm. So, out onto the Boardwalk we went! The boys are too short to pedal, so we rented the surrey bike that fits 2 adults, and the boys rode up front. This costs $20 for half an hour. The one that fits 4 adults and 2 non-pedaling little ones up front costs $22 per half hour. I asked if there is a DVC discount but that is only available between 4 and 6pm, and its 10% off so it would have only saved us $2. The CM set us up in our surrey bike, and he was kind enough to take this pic of the 4 of us:
And off we went, Eric and I pedaling, saying this is not so hard to do but we couldnt imagine doing it in the afternoon heat! After a couple of minutes it felt a little more difficult. I was joking around and said, Thank goodness we decided to do this early in our trip before we gain even more weight from everything we eat here!
We had a good laugh!
We continued on, and we had to go uphill over the bridge which you would walk over to get to Epcot or the Beach Club. This was difficult but we made it and we were laughing hysterically the whole time! How funny we must have looked to other people. The funniest part was when people would see us coming, the boys would ring the bell, and they would quickly get out of our way
as if we were completely out of control! OK, maybe it did feel a little crazy when going downhill, but Eric controlled that brake pretty well. We had one more hill up climb, closer to the Swan and Dolphin. This was a bigger challenge because we were already tired, but we made it. We made our way back to the Boardwalk. The ride took 12 minutes. Eric asked me if we should do another lap, but I said no, that I wouldnt make it past the Beach Club!
We definitely got a good workout on that surrey bike, and Im a person who exercises regularly (including strength training). There was another couple with little kids who were just about to start when we returned and they asked us how it was. We told them it was a lot of fun but a great workout (they looked like they were in pretty good shape). They smiled and were on their merry way.
I cant imagine doing the surrey bike in the afternoon summer heat. I was dripping when we got back, after only one time around in the morning. It was so much fun though and were so glad we did it. The boys had a fun, relaxing ride and enjoyed ringing the bell for us from the front.
After the surrey bike, we went back to the room to change and get lots of water, then we headed to the pool area, around 11am. The table with the umbrella near the kiddie pool was not available, but there were 2 lounge chairs nearby, in the shade. So we went right over to those. Philip wanted to go on the water slide, but Jonathan wanted to go in the kiddie pool. I took Philip into the big pool and watched him go on the slide a couple of times. He had a lot of fun on the slide and went on several times. He enjoyed his time swimming. Eric convinced Jonathan to go into the big pool as well. A CM informed me that we could rent a life jacket from the Community Hall for him, for the duration of our stay at BWV, and it was free. I went over to Community Hall while Eric played with the boys in the pool and rented one for Jonathan. He wore it for a little while, but he didnt like it. We held onto it in the room just in case for the rest of the trip, figuring we could try it out again. Heres a shot of Eric and the boys in the pool:
We had a relaxing time, just hanging out in the pool, and also on the lounge chairs. Boardwalk has a beautiful pool and we just love it. Here are a couple of nice shots:
And heres a shot of the boys and me being silly:
At around 1pm, the boys said they were hungry. So were we. We decided to pack up and walk over to the nearby Dolphin hotel to go to Picabu, their counter service, for lunch. First we were thinking of picking up something from BW Bakery and eat in the villa, but Picabu is larger and has more variety so we decided to go there. They give 20% off for DVC members
just show your membership card and youre all set. But keep in mind, they dont take the room charge unless you are staying at the hotel because its not run by Disney. You could pay with cash, and they take credit cards as well.
After lunch, it was just about time for Welcome Home Wednesdays which is the weekly afternoon party for DVC members, held at Atlantic Dance Hall on the Boardwalk. Since it was right there, and on the way back to the hotel when coming from the Dolphin, we decided to go. It starts at 2pm and is held most Wednesdays. When we arrived, they did not ask for our DVC membership card, which surprised me. I guess technically anyone can walk into there for a free snack, beverage and party.
Eric and I each filled out a raffle form, and they gave a snack voucher to each of the 4 of us. There were no seats on the lower level near the stage, so I had to find us some seats upstairs. Eric and the boys waited on line to get us snacks and drinks
the line was SUPER long. I found us a table upstairs with 4 chairs and a pretty good view of the stage. The snack choices were an individual bag of pretzels, an apple or a banana. They had lemonade to drink. They were out of bananas once Eric reached the front. The boys each got pretzels and Eric got an apple for himself and one for me too. We all had lemonade. It was refreshing to have some fruit, but the lemonade was very sour.
A lot of this was a big advertisement for adding onto the DVC membership, particularly at Aulani (in Honolulu). The activities were games like Disney movie trivia, a game where people selected had to guess certain things about the audience related to the Disney theme parks, etc. After about 10-15 minutes we were VERY bored (me and Eric, not so much the boys, they were OK). However, we wanted to wait for the raffle, which was of course done last! They were giving out some terrific prizes for the raffle. The ones I remember are a parasailing adventure, a Disney Floral arrangement, and a gift card for a ride-along at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the WDW Speedway. We didnt win anything, but at the end they gave every person present (including the children) each a DVC tote bag. The tote bag was a nice prize, but Eric and I felt like this was a waste of time and we dont plan to attend again on future trips. We were happy we didnt travel to another resort to do this and that it was held right on the Boardwalk.
Afterwards, we returned to the villa, showered and changed. We had a 5:20 ADR for Ohana and we knew we had to get there early. We left at 4:40 and we were there by 5pm. I will review Ohana in my dining report as soon as I get the chance!
After Ohana, we checked out some of the shops at the Polynesian. I wanted to go to Captain Cooks to look at their cupcakes, and maybe get one to bring back to the room to eat the following day. I bought a chocolate macadamia nut cupcake. While I was in there, Eric was at Wyland Gallery looking at some art.
We went back to BWV and settled in for an early night. The following morning we had EMH at Magic Kingdom at 8am, which meant getting onto a 7am bus. In fact, we had 3 EMH mornings in a row ahead of us!
Up next: EMH morning at MK! Stay tuned
I should be posting about our "free" day soon, now that I completed the dining review for the Sea World day. I'm trying to keep up with both threads as best I can! 
So the boys and Eric went to Big Thunder. I walked over to Splash to get fastpasses but the return time was 12-1pm. We had a lunch ADR for Plaza at 12. OK here is where I had to really think. I texted Eric and they were still in the fastpass line and not yet on the ride. So I figured I will wait around and I was sure the fastpass time would quickly get later since a lot of people were grabbing them for Splash. It was just about 11am. The plan was to get the fastpass once the return time would be 12:30-1:30, and then go to Plaza early. This was the only shot we had at the boys being able to ride Splash (we werent returning to MK in the evening). 
The last time it had rained was 2 days before, when we left the pool area that afternoon after going to Sea World. I always find the afternoon thunderstorms in Florida to be a pain in the neck when we are in the middle of a theme park, but I quickly learned from experience in the heat why they were totally necessary to cool things down a bit. I was trying to get some good shots of the boys and Eric with my iphone, but it was so hot that it overheated and wouldn’t work. I learned though, that you can still dial for emergency help if this happens because the phone gave me that option. I just got it in June for my birthday and I’m still learning a lot! So I didn’t get that pic of them coming down the drop, but I did get to watch it and it was awesome! 
Fortunately that did not happen but the ride home was a doosy…I will explain that when I get to that part of the trip though.
I would be so annoyed. Obviously you're there on vacation because you love it, and here she is trying to dampen everything. 
I panic inside if I think anyone is throwing up, I get nervous if my kids start coughing at night (sometimes they cough from their seasonal allergies), and I get nervous if I have a really bad stomach ache and think I might throw up. If someone throws up around me, I automatically assume it's a virus and I am going to catch it. Crazy that I'm a mother of 2 AND a teacher, huh?! 
That's because I may be very cautious at times, I may get nervous and scared at times, but I also won't let it rule my life and stop me from doing certain things. I was certainly not going to let this phobia stop me from having children because I love children, and I love teaching so I would never let it stop me from doing what I love for a living. Fortunately I teach high school so the kids don't get sick in the classroom just like that as often as small children might. In fact, Philip threw up on his teacher when he was in pre-school one afternoon and she handled it very calmly. I told her I didn't know how she did it, and she was so kind and sweet, and very gentle with him. I was amazed that she was still smiling.
